


the future is bright (and maybe in incapable hands)

by thingsKTsays



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, F/M, Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-22 16:29:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4842467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thingsKTsays/pseuds/thingsKTsays
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taylor thinks she might need a little help raising her baby rookie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the future is bright (and maybe in incapable hands)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ten_miles_til_midnight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ten_miles_til_midnight/gifts).



> This was written for **ten_miles_til_midnight** \- I hope you like it, even though it's not what I set out to write, and might not be exactly what you were looking for!
> 
> A huge thanks to **MajaLi** for the beta, and **Tirsh** for the hand-holding.
> 
> This fic ignores that Luke Gazdic will be living with Hall and McDavid, and also that Taylor Hall is a man.

“So let me get this straight,” Ebby says over the phone. “They’re getting McDavid - _Connor McDavid_ , number one draft pick and generational talent, the guy people are calling Mc _Jesus_ for fuck’s sake - they’re getting him to room with you. They’re _letting_ him room with you?”

And Taylor isn’t sure why he makes it out like it’s a horrible idea. She’s grown up a lot since she and Ebby lived together their rookie year. She knows how to do adult stuff. It’s been five years.

She can do laundry and everything, now.

“I was a number one draft pick, too, you know? We have a couple of those, it’s not that big a deal.” Because it’s important people remember that. She went first, and Nuge, and Yak - it’s not a new thing, not for Edmonton. But to hear people talk - shit, it’s like the kid is going to single-handedly bring the Cup back. Like McDavid is going to score fifty goals and humiliate the opposition and turn Edmonton from an embarrassment into a winning franchise.

Not that there’s anything embarrassing about Edmonton - Edmonton is _the shit_ , and that’s coming from a girl raised on the Flames and the Battle of Alberta. Edmonton is the _best_ , even when it’s frustrating and painful.

“But they’re not _letting_ McDavid room with me - they’re making _me_ room with _him_. Like I want to live with a teen boy, Christ. I remember what fucking slobs they are, _Jordan_ ,” she says. “But we were going to live together again this year, and now we can’t. Unless you want to live with us both? I could talk to the front office.”

Jordan had split from his girl earlier in the summer, and while it sucked, especially for Jordan, it also meant that maybe they could go back to being roommates, which had always been the best part about living in Edmonton.

Just because she can do laundry now doesn’t mean she _wants_ to, and Ebby never seemed to mind washing her shit. Or making her breakfast. Or taking out the recycling and garbage. It was great. She wants that again, not to be responsible for some kid who doesn’t even know that gameday suits go to the dry cleaners, not in the washing machine.

Not that she ever did that - Jordan intervened before anything could get ruined. But that’s just it - she doesn’t _want_ to be on constant watch for all the dumb shit she and Ebby almost fucked up their rookie year. She wants to focus on playing hockey and hanging out with Ebs, and maybe finding a boyfriend, finally.

“I bet he won’t even pick me up tampons from the store. Or he’ll get the wrong ones.”

“Or, you can go to the store and buy them yourself. Like a real adult. And c’mon, man, you know I told Schultzy I’d get a place with him this season. Us moving back in together was just a joke.”

Taylor doesn’t say anything for a moment, her mouth suddenly dry.

“Yeah, a joke.”

\---

Training camp is too busy to really tell what kind of a roommate Connor might be, but it’s going well so far. She doesn’t want to strangle him, at least.

Actually, if it wasn’t for his shoes by the door and carpooling everyday, Taylor’s not sure she would know that McDavid even _lived_ with her.

“Maybe he’s just not a huge disaster like you,” Ebby says from where he’s sprawled out on her couch, hogging the TV remote and refusing to stop watching shitty Pawn Stars reruns. “Or maybe he doesn’t like you. Maybe he’s intimidated by having such a big, strong, independent woman living with him, maybe -”

Taylor walks up to him and pulls the pillow out from under his head, whacking him in the face with it.

“Or _maybe_ he’s in his room and can hear everything you’re saying,” she hisses, _quietly_ , because she has fucking manners. “I mean. He might be. I’m not actually sure. He came home from the rink with us, right?”

She is a fucking terrible mentor, oh God. She’s going to lose him at the mall and he’s going to be kidnapped and all of Edmonton will hate her. She’s going to leave him in the back seat of the car on a hot day and forget to crack a window, leaving him to slowly suffocate in the heat. She’s going to -

“Yes, Hallsy, he came home with us. He sat in the backseat like a good boy and wore his seatbelt and thanked us for driving him and everything.” He handles her sitting down right on his stomach with aplomb - that is, he groans dramatically and hits her on the shoulder, which she ignores.

“Seriously, though, Ebs, I can’t do this alone.” She twists and squirms until she’s straddling his hips on the couch, staring down at him seriously. “I can’t raise him on my own, Jordan, I’m too young to be a teen mom -”

“What the fuck, Taylor. You’re not - you’re his _mentor_ , not his mom, what the - and you’re 23, not a teen. There is so much wrong with you.”

She grabs his shoulders, slowly shaking him back and forth dramatically.

“I killed the goldfish you bought me, remember? And the orchid. And the cactus. And the betta fish. And the second goldfish.” She widens her eyes, because even though the pouty face never works on Ebs, there always has to be a first time, right? “I need you to stop me from killing Connor fucking McDavid, okay?”

“Um.” 

And that would be McDavid ( _Connor_ , she has to start thinking of him as Connor, or McDavey, or something. She can’t keep calling her roomie and teammate by his last name, that’s just awkward), showing up at a pretty shitty time, because Taylor is pretty sure that Connor actually thinks she hates him, and now he probably thinks she wants to murder him in his sleep.

And like, Taylor feels bad, she does. Because obviously at some point she made this kid, who she is supposed to be mentoring and helping, feel unwanted in his own home. That’s shitty, it is. And she actually _likes_ him - they had a blast at BioSteel Camp, and training camp has been fun. Even though she hates how he’s being paraded as the Saviour of Edmonton, the mythical First Overall Pick to Rule Them All, she has nothing against _him_. He’s just a fucking kid. She just has a complicated relationship with his status. So it sucks that she’s been a bad mentor and teammate. It sucks that she’s been a bad roomie. She should fix that.

So she smiles at him from where she’s perched, straddling Ebby and holding his shoulders, their faces pressed close together. She smiles big and wide and looks as friendly and welcoming as she can.

“McDavey, my man! We’re just watching one of Ebs’ shitty shows. Plenty of space on the couch for all of us, join in!” She feels so proud of how inviting and welcoming and non-homicidal she’s being, and she looks down at Ebby, a little _look at me, totally not a disaster, see?_

But Ebby just has an eyebrow raised, and when she looks over at McDavey he’s doing the same, except instead of directing his judgement at her, he’s casting it at the way she and Ebby are taking up the entire couch.

Oops.

“Budge up,” she says, poking at Ebby and trying to move with him, so that the two of them are curled up and taking up less room. They end up sandwiched on top of each other, scrunched up in a way that should be awkward or at least uncomfortable, but it works for them.

Little McDavey is still staring at them like they’re a bomb about to go off.

“I’m just going to go and -” his eyes dart around the room quickly, as if he’s looking for something, “- and grab some Gatorade. Yeah. I’ll… yeah.”

He backs out of the room, literally backs out, and Ebby is trying to stifle a laugh in her neck. She headbutts him lightly in response, because he is Not Helping, but all he does is bite at the skin under her chin softly.

“Now he thinks I _want_ to kill him. That’s it, it’s decided. You have to live with us,” she says, shifting down until she’s lying on his chest, her head tucked under his chin. It’s one of her favourite places to be - Ebby’s warm, and his steady heartbeat is almost as soothing as the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest as he breathes.

“Oh, it’s been decided, eh?” He laughs quietly, more an audible exhale than anything else, and wraps his arms around her, slung low on her back. “And what about the lease I signed with Schultzy?”

“Schultzy can cry into his empty house, then. Get a cat to stave off the loneliness. I need you here.” She bites at his shirt, her voice muffled around the fabric. “You should never have moved out, anyway.”

They both freeze, because that is definitely a subject they don’t talk about, when Jordan moved in with his girlfriend and, it felt, left Taylor behind. It was probably the worst year ever. And then they broke up, and Ebby was a bit heart-broken, and Taylor was sad for him, even when she couldn’t help the selfish part of her being glad that she had her best friend back.

It was a really long year.

Taylor clears her throat, and spits the wet fabric out of her mouth. She presses a kiss against his chest, a silent apology for the shirt and her words. “We said we should live together again, remember?” She tenses up, closing her eyes and hiding her face. “It wasn’t a joke, not to me.”

Neither of them say anything for a while, the only sound their in sync breathing.

“I know, Hallsy. It wasn’t to me either, not really.”

“I need you to help me raise our baby rookie. And go on ice cream dates, and pick me up tampons and wash the laundry and fall asleep on the couch together.” She squeezes tighter around him, afraid that if she does anything else she would look up and do something stupid, something more stupid than what she’s about to admit. “And I miss tidying up with you before the cleaning service comes over, and grocery shopping, and that time you ran the dishwasher but put in the wrong soap, remember? I miss all that. And like, just cuddling while we watch TV and… and…”

Taylor takes a deep breath, bracing herself. Time to be brave.

“And I don’t want you to get a girlfriend, okay? I hated it. I hated that I never got to see you or hang out and I hated that she always came first and maybe that makes me a shitty friend, okay, but like. Ebs. You’re my _best friend_ , you know? In the world, dude. I want to do everything with you.”

He moves his hands off of her back, onto her shoulders and pushing her away, and Taylor’s heart _sinks_. She keeps her head down, eyes closed, because she doesn’t want to see this doesn’t want to deal with it. Being brave is stupid and overrated and just leads to mistakes.

Jordan cups her chin, and his fingers are soft and smooth against her skin. He tilts her head up, but she scrunches her eyes tighter. She can’t look at him, she already knows what she’ll see, he’s going to -

He’s going to kiss her, apparently.

Taylor’s eyes fly open, wide and shocked, until her brain catches up to the way his lips are pressed against hers, slightly chapped but forceful, and oh.

_Oh_.

Taylor goes to kiss him back, her heart thudding in her chest, because this is _perfect_ , and if this is what living together this time is going to be like, just her and Jordan and -

“Wait, where’s Connor?”

\---

Connor: _So I think I’m going to move out_  
Dylan: _whaaat dude didn’t you just move in with hall?_  
Connor: _She and Eberle are either plotting to kill me or get me to join in some freaky threesome, so like, think I’m just going to ask Ference if I can crash with his fam for the season_  
Dylan: _kinky threesome with hall and eberle???? GET IT SON_  
Connor: _Why are we friends._  
Dylan: _GET IT_


End file.
